Can Flock Live Up To The Geek Buzz?

Browser challenger Flock emerged from the summer conference scene via a loud, persistent buzz from instant fans who saw a demo and/or had the chance to work with the pre-release version. Despite another flurry of publicity today, it’s still invite-only with a public beta version slated for later this month.
Why does Flock matter? It’s the first browser since Firefox that has created even a whiff of excitement. Some of the Flock crew, including co-founder and CEO Bart Decrem, worked on Mozilla but shifted gears to a new way of looking at the browsing experience, one that would make the most of a more-interactive web. They call it a “social browser.” Tagging, instant bookmark posting to sites like del.icio.us, and blogging sans code are some of the features being touted.
The ambitious goal: 100 million users in five years. David Cowan, general partner with lead Flock investor Bessemer Venture Partners, told Business Week’s Rob Hof: “The incumbents are vulnerable. Today, those are the juiciest targets.” Hof does a good job of looking at Flock in the context of other browsers. I’ll add another challenge — not only does IE own 90 percent of the browser market, many high-volume, multimedia sites are designed only with IE in mind.
With a no-fee browser and no charge for providing code to developers, Flock plans to make money the new old-fashioned way: Google ads and referal fees. More on Flock as it gets airborne.

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